Ear tip including flange made of silicone foam material

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an ear tip having a flange made of silicone foam, the ear tip including a central core and a flange surrounding the core. The flange is made of silicone foam, and the core is made of a material harder than the silicone foam. Before the silicone is molded, attachable films or tapes may be attached to the top and bottom surfaces of the mesh, thereby preventing burrs generated during the molding of silicone from adhering to the mesh.

Claims

1. An ear tip having a flange made of silicone foam, the ear tip comprising a central core and a flange surrounding the core, wherein the flange is made of silicone foam, and the core is made of a material harder than the silicone foam, wherein: the core includes an upper wall formed above a mesh slot in which a mesh is mounted, and a lower part integrated with the upper wall, formed below the mesh slot, and provided with a horizontal portion protruding inward and a vertical portion extending downward from the horizontal portion in an integrated form, and a base including a hook-shaped protrusion protruding inward is formed below the lower part; and the flange is manufactured in a structure that covers the overall core except for a bottom surface of the core, the flange includes a sound emission hole extending above the upper wall, a flange upper wall configured to come into close contact with and completely cover an outer surface of the upper wall, and a flange lower wall extending below the flange upper wall to the bottom surface of the core and covering an outer side surface of the lower part, the flange lower wall has a thinner thickness than the flange upper wall, and a dome portion extending further below the flange lower wall while expanding outward from a side surface of the flange upper wall is formed around the flange upper wall and the flange lower wall, wherein a space is formed between the flange lower wall and the dome portion, and a lower edge provided by the dome portion and extending further below a bottom surface of the flange lower wall provides a space below the bottom surface of the flange lower wall, which facilitates deformation of the flange when the ear tip is worn.

2. The ear tip of claim 1, wherein the core is made of silicon resin.

3. A method of manufacturing the ear tip set forth in claim 1, the method comprising: molding the core by inserting a mesh as an insert and then injecting plastic resin; and molding the flange by foam-molding a silicone material, forming the flange, on a mold of the mesh and the core.

4. A method of manufacturing the ear tip set forth in claim 2, the method comprising: molding the core by inserting a mesh as an insert and then injecting plastic resin; and molding the flange by foam-molding a silicone material, forming the flange, on a mold of the mesh and the core.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising, before molding the silicone, attaching attachable films or tapes to top and bottom surfaces of the mesh, thereby preventing burrs generated during the molding of silicone from adhering to the mesh.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1A is a diagram of a conventional ear tip;

(3) FIG. 1B is a diagram showing the conventional ear tip inserted into the external acoustic canal of the ear;

(4) FIG. 2 is a sectional view of another conventional ear tip;

(5) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an overall ear tip disclosed in a previous application of the present applicant;

(6) FIG. 4 shows an overall perspective view of an ear tip according to an embodiment of the present invention;

(7) FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the ear tip shown in FIG. 4;

(8) FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an overall ear tip according to another embodiment of the present invention;

(9) FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the ear tip shown in FIG. 6;

(10) FIG. 8 is a view indicating that burrs are accumulated on a mesh during the process of molding an ear tip;

(11) FIG. 9 is a view showing a state before the removal of attached films in the process of molding an ear tip; and

(12) FIG. 10 is a view indicating that no burrs are accumulated on a mesh during the process of molding an ear tip according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(13) Objects and effects of the present invention, and technical configurations for achieving them will become apparent from the embodiments described later in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a well-known function or configuration may unnecessarily make the gist of the present invention obscure, the detailed will be omitted.

(14) Throughout the specification, when a portion is described as “including” a component, it means that the portion may further include another component, rather than excluding the other component, unless otherwise stated. Meanwhile, in an embodiment of the present invention, each of the components, functional blocks or means may include one or more sub-components.

(15) FIG. 4 shows an overall perspective view of an ear tip 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ear tip 1 includes a central core 10 and a flange 20 surrounding the core 10. It is preferable that the core 10 be made of a hard material and the flange 20 be made of a material softer than that of the core 10, particularly silicone foam in the embodiment of the present invention. Although the ear tips of commercially available canal-type earphones are made in integrated forms and use silicone tips or otherwise use softer foam tips than silicone tips, a “silicone foam tip” made of a flange material is used in the present invention. Silicone foam has considerably desirable heat resistance, cold resistance and electrical insulation, so that it may be used in a wide range of −50 to 200 degrees. It has a little change in curing or expansion depending on temperature, is easy to change its shape, and is softer than silicone, so that it has the advantage of providing comfort when worn in the ear canal.

(16) FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the ear tip 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(17) The core 10 includes an upper wall 12 that gradually decreases in diameter in a downward direction. A mesh slot 14a in which the mesh M is mounted is formed under the upper wall 12. Below the mesh slot 14a, there is formed a lower part 16 including a horizontal portion protruding slightly inward and a vertical portion integrally extending downward from the horizontal portion. The diameter of a space provided by the lower part 16 is relatively uniform and larger than that of the upper wall 12. A base 18 including a hook-shaped protrusion 18a slightly protruding inward is formed in the bottom of the lower part 16. A substantial portion of the lower part 16 and the base 18 are designed and manufactured to fit the shape and structure of the sound emission hole of the housing of a speaker (not shown).

(18) Since the flange 20 is made of a silicone foam material, it is molded to be relatively large unlike those of the conventional ear tips, and is manufactured in a structure that almost covers the core 10 except for the bottom surface of the core 10. More specifically, the flange 20 includes a flange upper wall 24 in which a sound emission hole 200 extends beyond the upper wall 12 and which comes into close contact with and completely covers the outer surface of the upper wall 12. A flange lower wall 26 extends downward from the bottom of the flange upper wall 24 based on the mesh slot 14a, and covers both the outer side surfaces of the lower part 16 and the base 18. The flange lower wall 26 has a smaller thickness than the flange upper wall 24. In addition, a dome portion 22 extending further downward below the flange lower wall 26 while expanding outward from the side surface of the flange upper wall 24 is formed around the flange upper wall 24 and the flange lower wall 26. The space formed between the flange lower wall 26 and the dome portion 22 and the space formed by a lower edge 202 provided by the dome portion 22 and further extending below the bottom surface of the core 10 allow the flange 20 to be more easily deformed when a user wears the ear tip 1.

(19) Since the flange 12 of the present invention is made of silicone foam and has desirable deformability, it can be manufactured in a simple and large shape rather than a shape having a fine and sophisticated joint structure. In addition, since the flange upper wall 24 comes into direct contact with the external acoustic canal of the ear on the portion of the flange upper wall 24 above the top surface of the core 10, it may be freely deformed in accordance with the size and structure of the ear and may give comfort to the user, and also the problem in which sound quality in a low-frequency band is degraded may be solved. In addition, the foam material is foamable and may thus transmit sound and air to a certain extent, so that it may be more advantageously applied to the flange of the ear tip than other materials.

(20) FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an overall ear tip 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the ear tip 1 shown in FIG. 6.

(21) The ear tip 1 includes a central core 10, and a flange 20 surrounding the core 10. It is preferable that the flange 20 be made of silicone foam that is softer than that of the core 10. When the core 10 is made of silicone resin and the flange 20 is made of silicone resin foam, the above condition may be satisfied and also the time required for a molding process may be shortened.

(22) The present embodiment is different from the above embodiment in that the gap between a flange lower wall 26 and a dome portion 22 is eliminated using the advantage of the silicone foam material that allows the flange 20 to be easily deformed and only a lower edge 202, which extends further below the bottom surface of the core 10, is formed to provide an empty space for the entrance of a housing (not shown) to be inserted. A flange may be formed in an integrated form without a clear distinction between members, unlike in the above-described embodiment. Even when the ear tip 1 is manufactured in this manner, the same effect may be expected as in the previous embodiment. Since the shape of the flange 20 is simple, the advantage of easy manufacturing may be utilized.

(23) In the ear tip 1 of the present invention, the mesh M is mounted in the mesh slot 14a, and functions to block foreign substances or dust.

(24) In the process for manufacturing the ear tip 1 of the present invention, the mesh M and the core 10 are injection-molded in an integrated form by fixing the mesh M into the hole of the molding device as an insert and injecting a silicone resin forming the core 10, the flange 20 is molded by injecting silicone, and a foaming process is performed.

(25) Conventionally, when polyurethane foam is molded, adhesion is performed using a primer upon the attachment of plastic resin or silicone resin. In the case of the foam tip according to the embodiment of the present invention, the core portion is made of silicone resin and silicone foam is applied to the flange portion, so that workability is shortened by working without a primer.

(26) In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, burrs B′, which are silicon powders, are accumulated on the exterior of the mesh M, so that acoustic characteristics are non-uniform and a lot of work is required to remove the burrs.

(27) Therefore, in the process for manufacturing the ear tip 1 of the present invention, before the step of forming the flange 20, a detachable film or tape F is attached to the top and bottom surfaces of the mesh M. The burrs B′ generated in the foaming process are accumulated on the film or tape F and are not accumulated inside the mesh M or the core 10 (see FIG. 9). After the flange 20 has been formed, the film or tape F is removed, so that a cleaning operation is simple.

(28) FIG. 10 shows the state of the mesh M after the removal of the tape. From this drawing, it can be seen that no burrs are accumulated. The ear tip 1 manufactured as described above has the advantage in which acoustic characteristics are uniform.

(29) According to the present invention, since the flange of the ear tip is made of silicone foam, the ear tip exhibits the effect of providing excellent deformability and adaptability when mounted in the ear canal of the ear, the effect of improving wearing comfort and cleanliness, and the effect of implementing a beautiful design.

(30) In the present invention, since the mesh is mounted near the boundary dividing the upper and lower parts of the ear tip, foreign substances such as earwax are prevented from being introduced into the sound device and deteriorating sound quality.

(31) In the manufacturing process of the ear tip of the present invention, an attachable film or tape is attached to the top and bottom surfaces of the mesh and removed after forming the flange, thereby preventing burrs from accumulating and exhibiting the effect of providing easy cleaning.

(32) The above-described embodiments are merely illustrative of the technical spirit of the present invention, and it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains that various modifications and variations may be possible within the range that does not depart from the essential features of the present invention.